Choices.

Our whole lives consist of a series of choices.

Each day is filled with literally thousands of them.

Every choice we make has a consequence.

We turn right not knowing what might have happened if we had turned left instead.

We chose whether or not to betray a confidence of a friend knowing that if we do we may lose that friend.

We chose whether or not to stand up to the darkness or to cower and hide from it hoping someone else will take it away.

The only thing that is certain about any choice we make is that once we have made it there is no turning back.

But there are those that believe that for every choice we make another universe is created where we made the other choice.

Maybe there is even a universe where the ones we love are dead and where darkness prevailed...


ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

It has been eight years since the murder of Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts. Since then the Dark Lord has successfully gained power and is ruling over the land. Nearly all the original characters are dead or in prison except for Hermione who is now leading a resistance cell against the Dark Establishment. Until recently the Dark Lord thought Hermione was dead too but they have now discovered she is alive. This has forced Hermione's cell to get more extreme with their tactics and have decided to target the supporters of the Dark Lord. Their first target is Borgin.

Brian Gould has been chosen to carry out the assassination. This is his story...


I looked down the street of Diagon Alley. Where once this was a happy place of magical commerce its stalls and shops now had a rather sullen feel to it all. It was a mild late afternoon but all the same I began to feel quite warm in the long jacket and long peaked hat that I was wearing to conceal my features. There at the end of the street lay what was now the biggest and most extravagant shop on the street, the new Borgin & Burke's. Ever since the Dark Lord had come to power five years ago the proprietor, Borgin, had profited greatly. He had moved from his dingy little shop in Knocturn Alley into the shop once occupied by the Weasley brothers. Then it was the grandest joke shop you ever did see. Now it was dark, menacing and looking rather run down since Borgin chose to increase his profits by refusing to hire help to maintain the place. Despite its size he was still the only person left in his business. This made him an excellent target for assassination.


THREE NIGHTS EARLIER

It was three nights ago back in the abandoned muggle school that served as our headquarters that we had decided to carry out this assassination. But even more significantly it was when we decided on our new campaign against the Dark Lord and his forces. The decision to up our game had not been an easy one but rather it had been forced upon us. Ever since they had discovered that Hermione, the last of Dumbledore's Army, was still alive and in our organization the Death Eaters have begun a frenzied search for our headquarters. As of yet we have remained hidden deep in the Welsh Valleys. But the general feeling now is that the best defense is a good offence. In short it meant that, for our part, the gloves were coming off.

"So we are agreed?" asked Luke. "Softly-softly is no longer an option."

We, the four leaders of our resistance cell, sat around a large coffee table in what was once the staff room of the Muggle School. I sat on one side of the short legged table leaning forward with my elbows resting on my knees. There was no other way out of this predicament. The only wizard the Dark Lord ever feared was Dumbledore and the possibility of one of his protégés surviving must have rattled him somewhat due to the excessiveness to which his men were searching for Hermione. No reward posters were displayed anywhere however since the Death Eaters didn't want the people to know she was alive because this would have given them a glimmer of hope.

"Agreed" added Gary.

"Brian?" asked Luke.

"Agreed" I responded. I looked over at Hermione sitting beside me. Her features were expressionless and her eyes were vague and almost empty.

"Agreed" she said almost in a whisper. I could read her face clearly even in the dim light of the little, practically windowless, room. She felt enormous guilt at the thought of what was happening to wizards and muggles across the country in the hunt for her and because of the danger that we were now in. I knew that she felt it was a poor way to repay us for her rescue. Until recently our actions had almost gone unnoticed by the Dark Establishment. Our assassinations and sabotage of low key targets was put down to vandals and ordinary troublemakers. Now they were aware of 'Hermione's resistance cell' and that meant that all of us now had a bounty on our heads. No point in going incognito any longer. Time to make a name for ourselves.

"So how shall we begin?" asked Luke.

"Well" I said. "I think you should get what you wanted. A high profile assassination."

"Who?" asked Gary.

"I have a few ideas of supporters of Death Eaters that we could hit" I explained. "Both Hermione and I have been discussing it and we believe that our best plan of action is to side step the Death Eaters directly and begin a campaign against their support infrastructure." Luke winced at the words 'Hermione and I'. He didn't like the fact that our relationship seemed to actually unbalance the decision making within the cell. I'm sure that it made him feel quite threatened. "We need to try to isolate them so that when we go after them directly no one will support them."

"Ok" said Luke. "Who?"

I looked back at Hermione with an approving glance to which she silently acknowledged with a slight nod.

"Borgin!" she said.